The Four Worlds Podcast
The Four Worlds Podcast explores how a simple idea can grow into something that changes the world. Each episode takes you on a journey—from the spark of inspiration, through the creation process, innovation challenges, and to the path of real-world production.
From sketch to shelf and prototype to product, join us as we uncover the stories behind breakthrough inventions and innovations with the creators, engineers, designers, and visionaries who bring them to life.
The Four Worlds Podcast
Pedal to the Metal: How Scout Motors is Reinventing the American SUV
Learn more about: Scout Motors
Watch: Scout Motors Unveils Trailblazing EVs at CES 2025
Read Article: CES 2025: Scout Motors Will “Retool” 1960s Vehicles as EVs
The iconic Scout is making a return, reimagined for a new generation while honoring its legendary heritage. Ryan Decker, one of Scout Motors' earliest employees, takes us behind the scenes of this ambitious revival. 🛻
What makes a Scout a Scout? This question guided the development of the Scout Terra pickup and Scout Traveler SUV. Moving beyond mere nostalgia, Scout Motors has created vehicles with authentic off-road credentials: body-on-frame construction, solid rear axle, impressive ground clearance, and factory compatibility with 35-inch tires. 🛞
The most revolutionary aspect might be Scout's dual powertrain strategy. While offering a capable all-electric option, Scout introduces its innovative "Harvester" range-extended powertrain with a rear-mounted gas generator delivering over 500 miles of range while maintaining the performance benefits of electric drive–including nearly 1,000 pound-feet of torque.
Construction is already underway on Scout's massive 3-million-square-foot factory in Blythewood, South Carolina, with production targeted for 2027. This isn't just another startup, it's a serious player with ambitious plans to win in the heart of the American truck market. As Decker explains, they're building vehicles with universal appeal: "cool enough to win in Malibu and the Hamptons, but credible enough to win in Texas and Indiana." 🏭
Throughout this revival, Scout has maintained close ties with the passionate community that kept the brand's spirit alive during its dormant years. This community-focused approach reflects the neighborly character that defined Scout from the beginning, a quality that will remain central to the brand as it grows.
Curious about Scout's progress? Follow their journey on social media or join their forums at scoutmotors.com to connect directly with the team. The eight-day-a-week truck is back, and it's better than ever. 🚗
Welcome to the Four Worlds podcast from Tomorrow's World. Today, we're diving into the latest in tech, science and sustainability, from nature's mysteries and the world of inspiration to the hands-on crafts of creation, the bold breakthroughs of innovation and the scaled-up wonders of production. This is your ticket to the stories shaping tomorrow. Welcome back to another episode of the Four Worlds podcast. We're joined by Ryan Deckard with Scout Motors. Ryan, welcome and thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you, Stephen, Glad to be here. Absolutely Like I said before we started recording, we're excited to do this and, Ryan, you've played a vital role in the creation, the innovation and the building of Scout Motors. So kind of take us through who you are and what Scout Motors is.
Ryan Decker:Yeah, great Stephen. Yeah, my claim to fame here is, I think, technically the second employee that Scout Motors had as a company, although in some of our HR systems I squeezed in as employee number one. But don't tell our CEO, scott Keogh, that Teased in as employee number one. But don't tell our CEO, scott Keogh, that From the beginning I've led strategy at Scout and I now lead what we call strategy and brand. Strategy is all about future-proofing the company, products and brand against all disruption trends and changes that we see in the marketplace. It's all about identifying an opportunity and then how do we set up this company for long-term success? Brand is all about how we make more Scout fans by recognizing that we have a lot of equity in the market. How do we grow that existing community to ultimately go on to be a high-volume?
Steven Ruffing:manufacturer and, for anyone who doesn't know, get everyone up to speed of what Scout Motors is. How did it begin? Take us through that process.
Ryan Decker:Yeah, scout Motors is sneaking up on its third birthday. We were officially operational in September 2022. And we set out with the clear intent to revive or reimagine the Scout brand and the Scout products in a very credible way. And that was sort of job one for us, which is, if we're gonna use the name Scout, we need to do it right. You can't enter these segments, you can't use the Scout brand as a poser.
Ryan Decker:So that led us to some very early strategic decisions. Right, the products themselves needed to honor the intent of what made a Scout vehicle a Scout vehicle. The Scout brand needed to honor sort of the community orientation, the warmth that we always saw in the Scout brand, and the company setup had to be sort of all new to match that intent to revive the brand. Right. So if you were going to build an all new platform, we knew we needed to build an all new factory approach that set us up to have an all new sales and service model. And again, when you're building a company from literally one employee, that is such a unique opportunity to build everything right the first time from a clean sheet of paper. And so that's what we're doing. The company's mission is to use the authenticity and the heritage of the Scout brand, but to reimagine it for the 21st century. We are developing, as we speak now, the Scout Terra SUV, or the Scout Terra pickup truck, and the Scout Traveler SUV.
Steven Ruffing:Two powertrains an all-electric powertrain and then what we call our range-extended harvester powertrain, as well, and you know, just talking about that, how do you balance kind of honoring the legacy of the original Scout with kind of reimagining it for a new generation? You talked about the two models, but where did you kind of have to start in balance, you know, honoring that?
Ryan Decker:Yeah, it's a great question, Stephen I think where it really started was understanding what made a Scout a Scout, and so we did spend a lot of time actually engaging with the Scout community, leaning into them, listening to them. In fact, you know I mentioned September 2022. One of the first things we did as a company, when the company basically had five employees, is we invited 10 scout OGs, so to speak, to a warehouse in Dallas and we sort of showed them the design intent and the product intent and we said, hey, what do you think? And that really set off sort of the community orientation we wanted to have as a company and in fact, we actually wound up actually changing something based on that feedback. But step one is definitely listening, leaning in, understanding what made the Scout brand, the Scout brand and what made the Scout products Scout products, and not losing that.
Ryan Decker:And that's one of our sort of our key missions of a company is combining the best of sort of old world American trucks, but also now, with this new world, exciting technology that we have, and no one else has really done it like that. We like to say we're combining heritage with ingenuity, and what we mean by that is if we look at what made an American truck an American truck. Things like body on frame, solid rear axle, big tires, robust suspension, rear door handles and switches those are all really great things that buyers in these segments really like. But we're also not just doing a nostalgic, retro, vintage kind of a thing. We want it to feel technical, exciting, cool, useful, safe, and I think we've managed that balance quite well.
Steven Ruffing:Yeah, I agree. It goes beyond just kind of grabbing headlines and saying, hey, Scout Motors is back, A brand that had a very, very loyal following, just like those Scout OGs you talked about. So, when looking at drawing inspiration for the new models, talking to those scout OGs, as you said, I want to keep using that, but those ones, you know what were some of those pieces that they might have said this needs to stay the same or this needs to change. What were some of those things when you were looking at the new models that you were going to develop?
Ryan Decker:Yeah, steven, beyond the community members, we do find a lot of inspiration from the actual company that manufactured Scouts and one of their pieces of creative campaign called themselves the eight day a week truck, and that's really become an internal rallying cry. Is we want to honor that spirit of being an eight day a week truck and that's really become an internal rallying cry? Is we want to honor that spirit of being an eight day a week truck? And, of course, what they meant when they said that a couple decades ago was that they wanted these vehicles to be capable enough for Monday through Sunday and beyond.
Ryan Decker:And that's something that we're really taking quite seriously in our product characteristics. You know, to simplify it, we want these vehicles to work hard. We also want them to play hard, we want them to be available for meaningful family duty and really everything in between. And that's what's defined, the call it requirements of the vehicle that we're now engineering and developing actually into the models, and it's, when it comes to off-road capability, it's things like ground clearance and approach angles and gradeability. When, when it comes to the hardworking heritage, it's cargo capacities, it's payload, it's towing, it's all the things that you'd expect that we've been able to distill down into our two models.
Steven Ruffing:So when you know, just touching on that, what was, let's say, well, what's the response when you're taking a traditional truck and now it's coming back out as an EV, what was that response like? How did you kind of manage to get through that?
Ryan Decker:Yeah, and Stephen, you know, I have to clarify one thing, which is we're not just an.
Steven Ruffing:EV now.
Ryan Decker:You know, we do have our two powertrains. So, yes, we do have a what I would call a very credible all electric offer, and, in my opinion, there hasn't been an EV quite like how we're executing ours. If you look at all of the new EV entrants, they're very aerodynamically optimized. They typically have gotten rid of most of their buttons one big screen. They're definitely designed not to be accessorized Definitely don't ever try and take a bumper off or install a winch or anything like that and so we wanted to make sure we checked all those boxes.
Ryan Decker:As an electric vehicle and I think we have we are designing for serious off-road credibility. We have things like four by four mechanical lockers. I mentioned the rear axle. We are designing this vehicle to be accessorized up to 35 inch tires from the factory. So check, check and check. We're doing something very cool from an all-electric perspective. However, we've also introduced our Harvester range-extended powertrain, which does include a built-in gas power generator which unlocks more than 500 miles of total range. So, right there, frankly, there's not that many models that can go over 500 miles of range. Nevertheless, with our characteristics, with our tire sizes, with all of our off-road chops, so that's quite a unique thing that we in some ways believe combines the best of both worlds. What I mean by that is you get gas range but EV performance, so things like nearly a thousand pound feet of torque, a front trunk, over-the-air updates technology, but again with the confidence that you don't have to worry about charging or range anxiety, like you have to do in an all-electric car.
Steven Ruffing:Now, absolutely, I appreciate you clarifying that because that is something I forgot to touch on back when we first we wrote about Scout Motors. You know that range extender was one of those things that kind of caught my eye and we did put that in there. So I appreciate you clarifying that. And looking back on, I guess, looking at it now, you have two very beautiful models for Scout Motors. What did those early sketches kind of look like? As you're sitting there in the draft room coming up with the ideas, how much has it changed from what you have now?
Ryan Decker:Yeah. So of course Chris Benjamin and his team deserve a ton of credit. They've designed something absolutely beautiful. There's no denying their contributions to that. Some of the earliest things we landed on were, I would say, the proportions and the scout DNA, and by the proportions I meant very proud, very upright, big ground clearance, broad shoulders, very proud front and rear graphics. And then the little scout details, so the window cinch up there by the D pillar, the side markers that they had on the scout too, which we're now capturing with light elements, of course, the Scout script, which we're placing off right as a little design detail instead of loud right in the center, just like you would sign a letter.
Ryan Decker:We believe our designers are sort of designing their work of art, which are the Scout Traveler and Terra. Now, all of those things were landed on at a 30,000 foot level. Chris and his team really brought them to life in a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful way. But you know it was the proportion, particularly the length, width and wheelbase, and that was one of the things that we were very mindful of is can we do the Traveler and the Terra on the same platform? And I think, with the proportions that we have and the dimensions that we have. We really nailed the ability to execute both of these products very synergetically.
Steven Ruffing:Absolutely. And what were some of those things that were kind of non-negotiable, that had to be in the Terra and the Traveler?
Ryan Decker:Yeah, and so you know it was those things that again delivered upon that eight-day-a-week promise.
Ryan Decker:So you know you're not a true off-roader unless you're delivering upon things like approach angles, ground clearance and tire sizes.
Ryan Decker:You know, when you think about an approach angle, what that means is that you typically have a very short front overhang right, it's just good for approaching front angles. So as you think about, then, how you package all of the underpinnings of the architecture, you have to get quite crafty, and there's a lot of very thoughtful engineering that has to go into executing that. But in order to deliver upon that iconic scout side profile, short front overhang, weight shifted rearward we didn't want to negotiate on that and, of course, if we really wanted to push this thing as hard as we could when it comes to aerodynamics, there's no way you would deliver the ground clearance and the tire sizes and the other things we're doing. To be clear, we're still delivering a very efficient aerodynamic vehicle, but we're doing it in a way that again delivers that eight-day-a-week promise that you can still take this thing off road. And that was our first barrier entry, because we wanted this thing to be a scout job one. Everything else kind of was secondary and tertiary from there.
Steven Ruffing:With all of those things considered, what are some of the biggest technical innovations? You talked about that range extender, but is there anything else that kind of separates Scout from others?
Ryan Decker:So I'll come back and zoom in on the range extender, but in general, I think the one big thing that does separate us is that intent, that philosophy to combine old world and new world. No one's doing it quite like we are, and I think the old world is where you get a lot of the joyfulness, even things like the bench seat. We want people to be physically connected to their passengers, to their dog, to whoever right there, literally side by side. To be clear, the bench seat's an option, but we wanted to celebrate that because we really do believe that these vehicles should be connected. Tactile switches Not the most innovative in the sense of groundbreaking tech, but innovative in the sense in that no one else is really using them like we're using them anymore. Even things like split tailgates in the rear again some of that old world joyfulness. That, true, bringing people together, leaning into, connection With, again, 1,000 pound feet of torque, electric drive units, over-the-air updates, all of the technology, safety features and other features that you'd expect of a 21st century vehicle.
Ryan Decker:But I think the range extender is really something that sets our package apart for how we've done it. So the gasoline engine is packaged very elegantly in the rear, so it's far away from the driver, which has benefits for vibrations and noise and things like that, and it also allows us to fully protect the front trunk. So, for all intents and purposes, the vehicle still feels like, it's still packaged, like, it still drives like an EV, but again with the confidence of having that gas engine in the rear that unlocks over 500 miles of range. We're quite excited about that, and we know our customers are too.
Steven Ruffing:And is that something that you know as employee number two? Some maybe, on some things, employee number one. Is that one of the things that you're you're most proud of? After you know three years of developing the new models, looking back on it, is that something that you're most proud of?
Ryan Decker:Well look, I'm never going to take personal credit for anything.
Ryan Decker:However, as a company, yeah I think the company should be proud of how we were able to pivot and listen to the market. You know the original intent was to make Scout Motors an all-or-like company. We paid attention to what was happening in the marketplace and we made what was a pretty significant strategic pivot and I think what wound up being proven to be the right one. So the company, our design colleagues, our engineering colleagues, our manufacturing colleagues everyone should be proud of how we were able to respond to the market and make that strategic pivot in a very fast way. But I also don't want to lose sight of the fact that everything else that the company is doing, because we weren't just engineering a range extender, you know, we're building a factory, we're hiring 50 people a month, we're establishing our IT applications, we're developing and designing, testing these products and we're doing it all at the same time. You know, a true entrepreneurial American startup kind of way, and I think the company should be proud of all that it's accomplished in the last three years.
Steven Ruffing:And let's not forget, with all of that, there comes hurdles, there comes challenges. What would you say some of the biggest challenges that you?
Ryan Decker:and your team faced when trying to merge a vintage look and vintage inspiration with some cutting edge technology.
Ryan Decker:Well, I think, on the product focused way there, I think there's a reason all of the new ED entrants look what they look like, because, of course, they want to go fully aero.
Ryan Decker:You know, I think some people saw a competitor have success with one big screen and that's what they did do. And the reality is they probably pulled out material costs and other things too, made it as lightweight as they can make it and all of those things work for call it an on-road centric electric vehicle, but that's not what we're doing. And so we had the unique challenge of taking an electrified drivetrain but executing in a way that worked across all 50 states and across, again, those eight daily use cases and that was another one of our strategic priorities is, we didn't just want to be a coastal brand with coastal products. We did want to make sure that Scout was able to appeal across all 50 states, across the coast and across the heartland, and we felt that the way to do that was to deliver a product that had that 100% no debate credibility behind it. And so that's tricky, that did require some serious engineering, but it also, in our case, wasn't impossible, and I think the teams should be quite proud of what they've been developing so far.
Steven Ruffing:And how has that response been? Again, all that said, how has that response been overcoming those challenges?
Ryan Decker:Well, we know how the customers have responded and obviously we can't disclose our quantity of reservations. But we're quite pleased with our reservation velocity and from my perspective I'm very pleased with where our reservation holders are. And to that earlier comment, we are seeing demand for Scout products across all 50 states in the heartland, along the coast, and I think that speaks to this cocktail of our product that we put together really, really does work. You know, it's cool enough to win in places like Malibu and the Hamptons, but it's credible enough to win in places like Texas and Indiana and I do think that's a rare combination that the industry hasn't quite seen before. We also know what our reservation holders are driving and you see a very similar sort of sentiment in that you're seeing our reservation holders driving other electrified products, but you're also seeing them driving some of the highest volume gas products that are out there and again, I think it's in some ways one of a kind so far in the industry.
Steven Ruffing:Yeah, absolutely. It's an interesting concept, trying to not appease everybody but kind of give the people what they want in different ways. Is that kind of the idea of when you're talking about Scout Motors?
Ryan Decker:Well, I think it's just really anchoring on first principles in our case, and that's what we've done. And when you anchor on first principles I do think you can unlock sort of universal appeal. And our first principles are we are building products that are for people who explore things and build things, and if we can check those boxes we're off to a good start.
Steven Ruffing:Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Let's kind of shift towards production. When is a rough date? Whether, if it's not out there, no worries. When are you shooting for production to start? When people can start expecting to see these vehicles?
Ryan Decker:No, stephen, what we said is target initial production will begin in 2027. And we encourage everyone to follow along with our construction progress. We transparently share what's going on down there in Blythewood, south Carolina, every month and it's a massive construction site. I think it's 36 million cubic feet of dirt being moved over a thousand acres, 3 million square feet of buildings, and all of that is now rapidly, rapidly being built as we speak. The good thing is it's on time. Most of the buildings are now built out. They're being whether the roofs are being installed, walls are being installed. By the end of this year is when we'll start going from sort of heavy duty construction to more technical installation or process equipment, and we did just announce that we began hiring our initial maintenance folks, who will actually be some of the first hires, who will work there in the factory, which we're quite proud about and which we were quite excited about the last few weeks.
Steven Ruffing:That's incredible. So really, things moving on time. But I'm sure for you it's like you blink and it's right there. Huh, it's like accordion time.
Ryan Decker:It either goes by really fast or really slow, depending on what day and what hour it is that's great.
Steven Ruffing:I mean, you kind of expected that you think of three years, but I'm sure you look at it and it's like man, it didn't feel like three years.
Ryan Decker:At the end of the day, it's once in a lifetime to be able to build a company from the ground up like this and to be able to see very tangible progress down there in Columbia. And it's not just at the factory, you see tangible progress everywhere you look, whether it's our IT systems Again, I mentioned that earlier or when he's looking at the vehicle development progress. You know we went from design sketches to having driving mules to show cars, to parts being awarded, to cold weather testing being done, on and on.
Steven Ruffing:Absolutely. And so what are, what are some some of those, you know, other milestones that you want to hit and that you're really eyeing, leading up to 2027?
Ryan Decker:Yeah, I think I probably just hit most of them. So for us, starting with the factory, we want to get these buildings weathertight. We want to pivot from earth moving and building construction to installation of the process equipment inside the factory. We want to begin really nurturing the workforce and hiring the workforce down there and in parallel, we're going to keep moving forward on the vehicle project. So that means we're going to continuing to develop it, make sure it's tested durability, cold weather. We have lots of parts suppliers we're going to be bringing on board, all basically converging towards that date I mentioned earlier, in 2027.
Steven Ruffing:And again, leading up to you, just say testing, you've done some testing. How much more testing needs to go into it? Is it kind of like a nonstop thing until you get to production?
Ryan Decker:Yeah, again, you know it's one of those things right where we want our vehicles to really be put to the test by our customer. So it's on us to put them to the test before our customers get an opportunity to do it.
Steven Ruffing:So testing is a very serious part of our engineering, development, and you've got to talk about the audience, the consumer. How do you build a community or kind of like a brand culture as you prepare for launch?
Ryan Decker:So the good thing is we're not starting from scratch on that, and so the corporate culture, the brand culture, it does start with the existing Scout community. You know I had mentioned how we had leaned in and listened to them, and now it's on us to keep building on that spirit. And we've done some, I would say, early positive things on that front. One we've created our own Scout forums because we want to hear directly from our fans or people who are just curious out there. We actively participate on those forums, we're reading them, we're listening to them, we're engaging on them.
Ryan Decker:The other big area is we have and we will increasingly show up in person at physical events. So, steven, it sounds like you and I we may have crossed paths in Vegas earlier in the year, but we want to continue to get to events and physical places for our customers or fans of reservation holders or, if you're just curious, to come and see the product, but, just as importantly, get to talk to all of us. And we want that direct engagement, we want that direct feedback. We're listening, we're learning, we're leaning in and that will continue to be a big part of the company and the brand and talking about just feedback, like you just said, very important to you.
Steven Ruffing:With that being said, looking down the line in five, we'd look at 2027 as the production date. Let's look five, 10 years down the road. Where do you want Scout Motors to be?
Ryan Decker:I'll answer that from a company perspective. First, yeah, absolutely, and big picture. You know, we're not just trying to be just like another little old startup. That is definitely not our ambition and we have the right stuff to back that up. And what I mean by that is, you know, most startups don't start with a greenfield, highly efficient factory, like we are. We will have the factory to back up that ambition level.
Ryan Decker:When it comes to what segments we're in, what body styles we're developing, you know we're not doing sedan or a more niche body style. We are going after sort of the core of the American market and we're executing in it with, you know, one of the world's largest OEMs behind us. So we have, you know, the credibility and the scalability that comes with that. So, from a company perspective, big dreams. We want to go in to the core of the American market and win.
Ryan Decker:From a product and brand perspective, I think it's actually worth looking a little bit in the rear view to understand where we want to go moving forward. And if you go back and look at a Scout 2 from 1980 or a Scout 800 or a Scout 80, you'll still see some of that DNA in our new Traveler and Terra, and I think the reason for that is because great products don't have to change much. Yes, they need to get more modern, more technical, more innovative, more efficient, more safe, all of these things, but they should still be recognizable, and that will definitely be the spirit moving forward. And it's the same logic on the brand. The brand was always community orientated. It always had a certain neighborliness.
Steven Ruffing:We're not going to lose sight of that 5, 10, even 20 years down the road and with that, you know, taking that all into consideration, is there anything coming up that maybe can get the fans or the audience, some consumers, excited, or is there things that are just have to stay hush hush at this point?
Ryan Decker:More to come on all fronts. Look, what I can say is let's continue to directly engage and pay attention to what we're doing, because we do want to show up physically in more places. You know we hear that feedback very clearly is hey, when can I see mine? When are you coming to a city X, y or Z? And we hear that we receive that feedback and we are going to make a more deliberate effort to get out there more and more as we get into the second half of this year and especially into 2026.
Steven Ruffing:And how can people stay up to date on anything? Scout Motors? If you want to plug any social media, your website, anything you want, well, a good way is, of course, just to place a reservation.
Ryan Decker:All kidding aside, our social media is always a very good place, but our forums are actually also a very excellent place for the latest and greatest and an opportunity just to directly ask questions with the Scout team. We're on there, we're reading it, we're responding.
Steven Ruffing:So the forums of our scoutmotorscom are a great place and I will say, if anyone's listening to this and wants a full history or full background on Scout Motors, the history page on your website is fantastic. Prior a few months ago I was reading all through it. I mean it really does give a good detailed background on who Scout Motors is and who they were back in the day.
Ryan Decker:Yeah, I know the team. You know, when they developed that website they wanted it to look the part, they wanted it to sound the part and I think the team did a great job on that website. It's worth a look.
Steven Ruffing:Yeah, couldn't agree more. Anything else, ryan, before we wrap things up that you wanted to add that we might not have gotten to Steve, and I close almost every one of these with just a shout out to the Scout community members I call them the OGs.
Ryan Decker:We're all in it together. We're all in it together. We value them. They've kept the Scout flame burning all of these years and we're very thankful and grateful that they did, because without them we wouldn't have the opportunity to reimagine this thing. So always worth shouting them out.
Steven Ruffing:Absolutely, it's well-deserved, for sure. It's well-deserved Well, ryan. Thank you again so much for taking your time and joining us here. Thank you, stephen. Glad to be here and we're looking forward to following up looking to the future of Scout Motors. That's all the time we have today. We look forward to another episode. We'll see you next time. Thanks for listening to this episode of the 4 Worlds Podcast. Until next time, you can catch up on the latest innovations shaping our world at tomorrowsworldtodaycom. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
